The President Said Weatherization on TV

I had the privilege of being in Washington, D.C., last February, participating in a conference of the National Association of State Community Service Providers (NASCSP). NASCSP is an organization of state level leaders of weatherization programs and community action agencies. DOE’ s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) makes the homes of low-income people more energy efficient, safe, healthy, and affordable. It has a pretty good track record in that for every dollar it spends weatherizing a house, someone saves two dollars, and the planet is spared a few tons of greenhouse gas emissions. And the weatherization community is a pretty diverse group. In the green building world, I have never seen so many women and people of color involved in every facet of the work.
It was a very exciting time to be in Washington and at the NASCSP conference. The House and Senate were still debating the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, also known as the stimulus bill. Folks such as DOE’s Gil Sperling and NASCSP’s Bob Adams were literally hurrying back and forth between Capitol Hill and the conference, alternately advising members of Congress and their staff on the final makeup ...